Mega-Flood 2002 in Saxony: sedimentological oberservations in the valley of the Wilde Weißeritz between Tharandt and Freital near Dresden
von Birgit Gaitzsch, Uwe Hoffmann & Ines Jaschke, Freiberg
GAITZSCH, B., HOFFMANN, U. & JASCHKE, I. (2002): Hochwasser 2002
in Sachsen: Sedimentologische Beobachtungen im Tal der Wilden Weißeritz zwischen
Tharandt und Freital bei Dresden. - Freiberger Forschungshefte C 497: Paläontologie,
Stratigraphie, Fazies (10): 59-83; Freiberg.
Am 12. August 2002 wurde an der Station Zinnwald-Georgenfeld im
Osterzgebirge mit 312 l/m2 der absolut höchste Tagesniederschlag gemessen, der
jemals in Deutschland registriert wurde. Die Abflussmengen kleiner Vorfluter
erreichten nicht selten das Hundertfache ihrer durchschnittlichen Werte. Reißenden
Strömen gleich bahnten sie sich ihren Weg flussabwärts. Am Beispiel der Wilden
Weißeritz zwischen Tharandt und Freital werden Veränderungen am Gewässerprofil
und der Auenmorphologie vorgestellt und sedimentologisch interpretiert.
During heavy rainfalls on August 12th, 2002 the meteorological
station Zinnwald of the eastern Erzgebirge Mts. has recorded a rainfall coefficient
of 312 mm during 24 h. That represents the highest precipitation rate ever measured
in Germany. Subsequently, as the first act in the 2002 flood disaster, small
streams and rivers of the Erzgebirge area flooded valley floors on August 12th
to 13th, i.e. some time before the flood crest of the Elbe river passed the
Saxony capital Dresden. One of these small streams is the Wilde Weißeritz, having
a normal discharge rate of less than 1 m3/s. During the flood event the discharge
rate of this river was increased to about the 200fold of the normal value -
a phenomenon occuring periodically in small tributaries. Confluenced with water
masses of the Rote Weißeritz the river destroyed the urbanized areas of Freital
and Dresden dramatically, where it re-entered it`s natural channel. Sedimentological
observations, made in a local scale at the Wilde Weißeritz valley between the
towns Tharandt and Freital between August 20th and September 20th are the data
base for the present paper. Changes regarding the valley shape and floodplain
morphology are interpreted sedimentologically.